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Arsenal have been linked with a big-name swap deal that would change the way they play up front - but would it work?
It’s been 18 months since people really started to wonder when Arsenal might sign a new striker – 18 months, really, since most pundits concluded that Gabriel Jesus simply wasn’t the right man for the job. The half-expected new striker still hasn’t arrived, but a new rumour off the mill might offer some hints as to Mikel Arteta’s thinking.
According to Caught Offside, the Gunners could be ready to offer Gabriel Jesus to Juventus in part-exchange for Serbian striker Dušan Vlahović, who has generated mixed reviews in Turin but always maintained a steady stream of goals from the number nine position since joining the Old Lady in 2022.
If Vlahović really is one of the main targets, then that provides an insight into what Arteta wants from a new striker – and he would be a significant departure from the kind of players that have lead the line over the course of the last few seasons.
There are plenty of good reasons to be dubious about the veracity of this specific report. For starters, its primary source seems to be the unreliable Spanish outlet Fichajes. Furthermore, Arsenal are currently without a sporting director following the sudden departure of Edu Gaspar, and it’s unlikely that they are far along with any complex transfer plans – and any form of swap deal would be complex. But Vlahović has been heavily linked with Arsenal in the past, and there is little reason to believe that Arteta is keen to keep hold of Jesus given how little the Brazilian has played this season.
Jesus was presumably signed with the intention of improving Arsenal’s attacking fluidity, with visions of him running the channels in tandem with the likes of Bukayo Saka, creating a front three which attacked the opposing defence with quick, unpredictable movement. The Gunners have had plenty of fluidity over the past couple of seasons, but what they’ve lacked is goals.
Jesus simply isn’t a strong finisher – over the course of his Premier League career, he has only matched his expected goals tally with actual goals once, when he hit nine for Manchester City in the 2021/21 season. At City, he generally scored the equivalent of a little less than 0.4 goals per game (which is a very decent number) but after his first season with Arsenal that number has plummeted.
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Vlahović, by comparison, is a much more consistent goalscorer. His up-and-down form and habit of drifting out of games has drawn criticism, but he has never stopped scoring at the equivalent rate of one goal every other game – even in ‘down years’, he has outscored Jesus. The real source of frustration is that he has never really captured his Fiorentina form at Juve. The 24-year-old bagged 38 goals over two seasons with La Viola, but has only once got past 10 goals for his current club.
Whether he would find the form to become the kind of 20-goal-plus striker than Arsenal need is a fair point of debate. He’s passed that mark twice before, but not for a few years now. But he would almost certainly be a more consistent score than Jesus.
For all of that, he would also offer less mobility, less technical quality and less ability to beat defenders from deeper positions. Jesus is the superior player in almost every department other than applying the final touch – he creates more chances for others, dribbles past more opposing defenders, is faster and is better in tight spaces. That still hasn’t been enough since he arrived at the Emirates.
Trading Jesus for Vlahović wouldn’t just be a simple question of upgrading in a position, it would represent a complete tonal shift up front. Vlahović, much like Erling Haaland, might not be immobile per se and can do some work in deeper areas (a ferocious long-range shot helps there), but the onus would be on those around him to do the creative work and the approach play.
Ultimately, the more fluid approach taken by Arsenal over recent years worked extremely well, but only up to a point. Manchester City were better for years, and now Liverpool have put daylight between the two teams in the title race – and the 0-0 draw against Everton saw a team crying out for a poacher, a ‘proper’ striker who can snaffle up half-chances and use their physicality to create space in the box.
That’s something that Arsenal haven’t had since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette declined and departed, and may be something they need – and if Vlahović really is in their sights (and Jesus really is ready to be ushered off to his next club), then it suggests that Arteta wants to take a leaf out of the book Pep Guardiola was reading when he signed Haaland and engineered a similar change of pace up front at the Etihad. If it works half as well, Arsenal might finally be able to compete for that elusive title.
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